Washington, D.C., is one other notable exception, whereas murders in high-crime cities like Chicago and Baltimore went down.

But Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said the longer-term trend is a better indicator, and murders went down in 2016 and 2017.

“I promise you long term we’re trending in the right direction, including homicides,” he said. “We’re trending in the right direction in everything our community should care about.”

This, he said, despite limited resources. The chief has long said the police department is understaffed.

Acevedo said 37 percent of homicides were either gang-related or family violence.

And, he said, the number of family murders in particular went up by 38 percent compared to 2017. The Houston Police Department has started some programs to tackle domestic violence and is working on more, the chief said.

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Florian Martin

Business Reporter

Florian Martin is currently the News 88.7 business reporter. Florian’s stories can frequently be heard on other public radio stations throughout Texas and on NPR nationwide. Some of them have earned him awards from Texas AP Broadcasters and the Houston Press Club. Florian is a native of Germany. His studies...